The Energy and Environment Reporting Fellowship

Troll oil platform, built to compensate for sea level rise.

Susanne Rust, project director for the energy and environmental reporting project at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

She has been working with the School of Journalism and the LA Times on a series of articles laying bare Exxon Mobil's campaign to promote denial of the science of climate change, even while inside the company, scientists and engineers were taking steps to mitigate the impact of sea level rise, warmer temperatures and more powerful storms on company operations. All this was done to protect the company's profits, although they knew this would have disastrous effects on the planet.

Massive Leak of Natural Gas in Aliso Canyon

Infrared photo of Aliso Canyon gas leak

Since October, a massive leak of natural gas in Aliso Canyon, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, has been pouring tons of methane gas into the atmosphere. The plume, which is invisible to the eye, is 1000 feet high and several miles long. In addition to sickening thousands of people in the neighboring community of Porter Ranch, it will dramatically increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and contribute to the already grave problem of climate change.

Joining us to talk about this is Orpheus Reed, a writer on the environment for Revolution newspaper/revcom.us.

His latest article is, “Porter Ranch Gas Disaster and the Poisonous Lies of the System.” Read it here.